Mary Janes are one of those candies I heard about growing up, but never ate. They were, like most Necco products, something that I saw in stores, but never gave much thought to when it came to buying. I never watched any of my friends eat Mary Janes, and reasoned it was probably a candy better left to my imagination.
But after so many years of having Twix, KitKats, and other candy items I routinely buy at the store, I find myself bored. I still love me some Twix, but a guy needs to mix things up every now and then!
Whenever this feeling overtakes me, I head on over to the part of the candy aisle I usually neglect. Often, it’s full of candy from another generation, including Circus Peanuts, Wax Bottles, and Candy Buttons. On this trip, I snatched up a bag of Mary Janes.
Each piece is about an inch-and-a-half long and a half-inch in width. The wrapper is old school in the best possible way. It’s a simple yellow background with a red stripe running down the middle and the famous image of Mary Jane. Simple, but classy.
The piece is colored a molasses brown, which makes sense since Mary Janes are a molasses and peanut butter taffy candy. It reminds me of a darker and longer version of Bit-O-Honey.
The piece is a little sticky to the touch, but not too hard to pull. There is a peanut butter flavor present, but not indicative of real peanut butter. It’s like someone used peanut butter flavoring instead of the real thing.
Though these are billed to have molasses in them, one of my main critiques is that there was no richness or sweetness to this piece of candy, an oddity for anything bearing molasses in its description.
Personally, I didn’t go for those. I know people these days who love them and those who hate them. This is just one of those candies made for a different generation. Candy that has existed for a long time, like Boston Baked Beans or Crows, tends to be less sweet and complex in flavor compared to today’s stuff. With the advancements we’ve reached in sugar, these are somewhat outdated. There will always be a niche for these due to their history, and I am glad I can say I have at least tried them. In the meantime, though, I think I’ll be heading back to Twix.
Buy Mary Jane Online:
- at Candy Crate
- at Old Time Candy
- at Amazon.com
I snitched one of these from my Boy’s Hallowwen candy this year. I love molasses and anything containing molasses. BUT- these were icky. I actually spit it out. Can you believe it? A candy addict spitting candy out. Sheesh.
December 17th, 2008 at 1:19 pm